(Reuters) – An American citizen detained in Afghanistan last month by the Taliban administration has been released, former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad said on Saturday.
“American citizen Faye Hall, just released by the Taliban, is now in the care of our friends, the Qataris in Kabul, and will soon be on her way home,” Khalilzad posted on X.
There was no immediate comment or confirmation from the State Department. Khalilzad, also a former U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, gave no further details. He posted a picture of Hall sitting between two men.
A source with knowledge of the release said Hall, who had been detained in Afghanistan since February, was freed on Thursday following a court order and with logistical support from Qatar in its role as the United States’ protecting power in Afghanistan.
Hall was received at the Qatari embassy in Kabul and confirmed to be in good health after undergoing a series of medical checks, the source said, adding that arrangements were underway for her return to the U.S.
Hall was arrested together with a British couple, Barbie and Peter Reynolds.
British media reported that the couple, in their seventies, had been running projects in schools in Afghanistan for 18 years, deciding to stay even after the Taliban seized power.
Khalilzad’s post made no mention of the couple, whose family has pleaded for their release amid concerns over their health.
(Reporting by Yousef Saba, Lucia Mutikani and Andrew Mills; Editing by Timothy Heritage and David Gregorio)
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